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The Future of Mobile Internet, Monetization, and Mobile Operators: The Perfect Positive Sum Game

Susie Riley

February 20, 2014

This has been a long time coming, but I’m pleased to announce that, in tandem with our release of MoVE Zero, we’ve officially launched the Aquto blog, a digital space for us to discuss the trends taking place in mobile data consumption, infrastructure, monetization, and the ever-changing roles of different players in the mobile ecosystem. We’re a small, but highly experienced team with deep industry knowledge in mobile internet, data, security, media, and advertising, and we’re eager to share our thoughts on how the industry is evolving. We won’t always be right, and we won’t always agree (even with each other), but we aren’t going to let a little uncertainty stop us from pressing forward in pursuit of a solution to this very real, very important challenge – supporting, monetizing, and growing mobile internet infrastructure.

It’s common knowledge that mobile data consumption has exploded and with higher quality LTE networks, content can now be streamed with higher quality and downloaded faster than ever. The success of the mobile internet has exceeded everyone’s expectations, but success comes with a price. Mobile operators have, out of necessity, moved away from unlimited data plans that quickly became too expensive to maintain. The cost of operating, let alone growing, our mobile internet infrastructure shows no sign of slowing down, and the question of who pays for mobile internet usage has traditionally fallen to the two main players in this exchange – the operators and their consumers.

But, there are other constituents with a vested interest in the reliability, affordability, and adoption of mobile internet usage – advertisers and others in the mobile advertising ecosystem, retailers, content providers, and other companies whose business model relies on consumer mobile connectivity. Why weren’t their interests being expressed in the exchange between consumers and operators for mobile internet, we asked ourselves? And, the obvious answer was: They should be. Bring businesses with a vested interest in consumer mobile connectivity into this exchange to create a true Value Exchange that results in a Positive Sum Game for all participants, using each one's assets to spur growth, adoption, and positive results for all.

The novel approach that Aquto has taken with Kickbit, MoVE Rewards and now MoVE Zero is to work with operators to leverage some of their most strategic assets to solve fundamental mobile advertising and commerce challenges, benefit mobile consumers, and increase the monetization capacity of those assets.

We’ve created a very simple, frictionless solution that enables each of the constituents in this Value Exchange to satisfy the needs of another with an asset that they have in abundance. Consumers use their capacity to engage with brands in exchange for mobile internet credits; advertisers pay for the performance of these engagement campaigns and/or the data used for the engagement; operators monetize data consumption that wouldn’t have happened otherwise, creating more fuel for network growth.

Everybody wins in the short term, and everybody wins in the long term, because reliable mobile connectivity has, and will continue to, change the world by increasing productivity, commerce, communication, and connection.